


Hopelessly Pining

by Galadriel1010



Series: Birthday Prompts [2]
Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Disabled Character, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, Misunderstandings, Useless Lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25688575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galadriel1010/pseuds/Galadriel1010
Summary: Canon compliant with misunderstandings - Ginger can't help watching the new builder and her brother, but still manages to miss the obvious.
Relationships: Female Builder/Ginger (My Time At Portia)
Series: Birthday Prompts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862779
Kudos: 22





	Hopelessly Pining

It was a day of great excitement in the town, and father hadn’t taken much persuading to allow Ginger out to join, despite the heat, so long as she travelled in one of the new Dee-dees and Russo stayed with her all the time. She didn’t mind that restriction. The Dee-dees were comfortable and shady, and she could keep her book and her drink with her. So much more of the city was now open to her. The builder who’d made it possible, Lexy, was down in the square when Ginger, Gale and Russo arrived to cheers from the gathered crowd, and her eyes drifted over them and settled on Ginger, just for a moment, and Ginger’s heart fluttered.

She was dressed up more nicely than normal, in a short sleeved shirt that clenched tight around her muscled arms and tight jeans that accentuated her long legs. Strong fingers wrapped around the handle of the spade that would be used to begin work on the construction of the museum at last, and her short hair – currently purple – dipped into her eyes when she turned away from the sun. Ginger could have stared at her for hours, but they were pulling to a stop and, worse, Lexy had turned her attention away, drawn by Gust’s hand on her arm and Gust’s quiet joke that made her laugh and Gust’s smile that she returned. Ginger suddenly regretted insisting on coming, but she was here now, and her father was striding from the Dee-dee towards Gust and Lexy and Albert, and Emily had swung herself into his vacated seat to embrace Ginger and talk at a hundred miles an hour about the museum and her farm, and that was enough to distract her for a while. They watched and cheered as Gale dug the first spadeful of earth, laughed when he mopped his brow at the exertion and passed the spade back to Lexy, and Ginger’s mouth went dry when the builder took her turn, muscles bulging under skin tanned by hard work around Portia under the hot sun. She passed it on to Albert next and nudged Gust, laughing at something he’d said, and the way Ginger’s stomach clenched was deeply unpleasant.

Russo took her home when Emily left to tend to her animals, and watched her with concerned eyes when she drifted to the sofa and flopped down on it, face first. He sat on the edge of the seat next to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright, Miss Ginger?”

“I’m fine,” she assured him, but kept her face planted in the cushion so he couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. “I just… I miss normal life,” she cried, and it wasn’t entirely a lie. “I miss what I can’t have, even though I never had it. Does that make sense?”

“Never give up hope, my girl. Nothing is impossible.”

“This is.” She lifted her head at last and hugged the cushion to her chest. “I think I’ve read too many books for my own good.”

Despite that proclamation, she returned to her book anyway. Albert had given it to her when he came to play cards with Gust one day, and had been very smug about it when she expressed her delight. Her attention wandered as she thought about that, and she wondered why he’d bought it for her. He wasn’t a big reader, according to Gust, but she had mentioned it to Lexy… Had Lexy put him onto it? She tried to concentrate on the book to banish the idea from her mind and stop her thinking about why Lexy would be trying to help Albert get close to her.

She’d almost managed it, too, when the front door opened again, and she sat up to greet her father and brother. They weren’t alone, though, and Ginger’s heart did the strange backflip involved in rising and sinking at the same time when her eyes met Lexy’s. The builder gave her a crooked smile, and Gale hurried over to kiss Ginger on the cheek. “I hope you’re feeling alright, my dear? I saw that you left early, but we had so much to talk about and so much to do. So I invited Lexy up for dinner. She has some really exciting ideas for the museum and South Block!”

“That’s wonderful,” Ginger said, a touch more weakly than she’d hoped. “I’ll just go and put my book away and get changed, and then I’ll join you.”

Dinner was, contrary to Ginger’s fears, a lovely experience. Lexy was as full of ideas as Gale had promised, but the conversation drifted quickly from her plans for the museum to the relics she’d found in the ruins and the adventures she’d had retrieving them. She teased Gust gently about his unwillingness to spend time in the ruins, compared stories with Russo about the Forbidden Wasteland, and captivated Ginger with her travels to far flung places. When Russo eventually cleared away the remains of dessert, which Lexy had praised to the roof, it was Gale who looked at the time and startled. “Good heavens, is it so late? I’m afraid I’m going to have to turn in. We’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“I should too,” Gust said reluctantly. He turned to Lexy with a chuckle. “We’ll have to deal with Higgins in the morning. Are you staying up longer, Ginger?”

Her fingers twined in her lap and she looked up at the clock. “I was hoping to go down to the river, just for a little while…”

He sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I really can’t tonight. Tomorrow?”

“Alright.” She forced a smile onto her face, even though she knew that the weather for the following day was forecast to be foul. “I’ll read some more of my book, then, before I turn in.”

Lexy had got to her feet and was making for the door, but she paused in her stride. “I could go with you, if you like?” she offered. “We could take one of the Dee-dees down. I was going to stay up for a while looking at my designs anyway.”

“Well…” Gust answered before Ginger could, and though she turned wide, pleading eyes on him he was watching Lexy instead, as usual. “If you really don’t mind.”

“I’d like to,” she insisted. “It’d be nice to get to know you better, Ginger,” she added, and there was an almost hopeful tone to her voice.

It was that that made Ginger’s mind up. She’d never been good at disappointing people. “That would be lovely, then. Just let me get my coat.”

“I’ll get the Dee-dee and meet you outside,” Lexy promised. “Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone’s put as many hours behind the wheel of those things as I have.”

The ride down to the river was quiet and smooth, the little engine on the Dee-dee chugging along quietly through the dark and quiet streets of Portia and then out through the countryside, past Lexy’s house. Ginger strained her eyes to see it in the darkness, but they were past it before she could make out more than a blob. “You’ve done a lot of work on the house,” she commented. “I’m glad to see it back to life. It’s always been a tumble-down place, for as long as I can remember.”

“That’s my father for you,” Lexy told her. “He trusts things to pick themselves up behind him.”

She didn’t comment further until they reached the fork in the road that would take them either to the beach or the river, where she asked Ginger which way she wanted to go. They trundled from there down to the beach, where they could see Starlight Island across the water beyond the pier. Lexy jumped down first, and offered Ginger her hand to help her down. Even when Ginger was safely on her feet on the grass, Lexy kept hold for another second before she released her and turned to look out over the water. “Sandrock is over there somewhere,” she commented. “Seems a long way away now.”

“Do you miss it?”

“I suppose so, sometimes.” Lexy turned to look at her, and in the darkness her expression was inscrutable. “I’m glad I came here, though. I found… I think I found what I was looking for.”

Ginger frowned. “What were you looking for?”

“A fresh start, I suppose?” They walked on, and when they’d settled on the sand Lexy rummaged through her bag and brought out a lantern and a small pouch. “Here…” she lit the lantern and they both found themselves blinking in the light and laughing at it. When they’d got used to it again she unrolled the pouch and tipped what she’d found onto her hand. “Whilst I was working on the museum today I found this, and Gust said you like crafting things, so I thought you might like it.” She held it out to Ginger and spoke quickly. “I think it’s worn smooth by the sea or the river, rather than worked, but I thought it was pretty and, well, you… make pretty things?”

“Thank you.” She took it with only slightly trembling fingers and rubbed her thumb across it. It was a small stone, smooth and almost warm to the touch, and when the light shone through it it glowed a deep purple. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

Lexy looked down at the lamp. “So are you.”

“I’m…” Ginger was so startled she nearly dropped the stone, and she held it with suddenly numb fingers, staring at Lexy and wishing the lantern would go out to hide her blushes. “I…”

“I’m sorry,” Lexy said. “I shouldn’t… Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Ginger breathed. “I didn’t think you’d even noticed me.”

“I was worried I was going to be caught staring.”

She laughed, but the main question remained. “I thought you and Gust were… You know…”

“Gust?” Lexy giggled. “Oh, we’re really not. He’s a good friend. And a very protective brother.”

“A little too protective at times,” Ginger grumbled.

“Yes, you said.” Her eyes shone in the lamp light, and her smile was even brighter. “I had to gain his trust before he’d even consider something like this.”

Ginger looked up at her nervously. “And what is this?”

“A date? If you like.”

“I would like,” she agreed. “I’d like that a lot.”

“Good.” Lexy shifted a little closer. “I’d quite like to kiss you, if that’s alright with you?”

“Yes,” Ginger breathed, the stone still clutched tight in one hand. “I think I’d like that too.”


End file.
